


Tough Love

by Tanark



Series: Kolta [10]
Category: Evil Within - Fandom, The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Evil Within 2, F/F, OC-Kolta - Freeform, Sad, This game scares the shit out of me but it's good, only a little gay, takes place after the game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 05:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12928590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tanark/pseuds/Tanark
Summary: Just a...little nonsense drabble about after the game. Kidman delivers the bad news to the surviving Torres sister, Kolta. It's a very short and reflective fic, very different from my normal stuff. I only rate it T because of the game itself and one mention of the word sex.





	Tough Love

**Author's Note:**

> I...don't know where this came from, it was written in under half an hour.  
> This game scared me to shit and I was just watching it, not even playing. It was somewhat impressive, though, and I loved both Kidman and Esmeralda. Poor Torres deserved better, so she got a younger sister.

\-------------  
Esmeralda had never told me about Mobius. I knew she was working somewhere a little shady, but I trusted her judgement. She made just as much money as I did with an honest career, and was a pretty good roommate for also being my older sister. There was only three years between us, but Esmeralda always took control.

She joined the military right out of college, leaving me to arrange Dad’s funeral as she deployed. Mom followed soon after him, and it took two years for Esmeralda to get back from deployment. She was different. I was so happy to have my sister back, and I never wanted her to leave. But she had to. Over and over and over, and as I latched into my job I found the worry of her never showing up again around every corner.

It finally broke me one day when she returned with a limp, and I spilled out all of my messy fears of her dying. She listened, and hugged me, and let me fall asleep with her like old times. Normally, Es was about tough love, but this time she was silent. She moved into my apartment, and told me her active duty contract would be up in a year, and then she would look for a normal job while in the reserves.

It was good. She got a security job, I got a serious girlfriend. She was hired by a larger corporation, I got engaged. It was a few weeks after my wedding that Esmeralda approached me with a grin expression.

“I have a job. I don't like it, but...I'm going to do it. It's risky, which is why I'm telling you to just...warn you.”

I tried to convince her not to, but she was stubborn. The next time I saw her, she had a burn wound in her arm and a stare I hadn't seen in a while. I didn't ask, but assured my wife, Megan, that she was okay when she slept on our couch for the next week.

Years later, she burst out of her room in my house and pulled me into the backyard.

“I'm going to have to go away again. For a while.”

“What? Now? Why?”

“Yes now, and you know I can't tell you. This is-this is a new kind of risky, sis. I need to do it, though, I need to make amends.”

“But-”

“It's not just for my pride or conscience. It'll take down some really bad people.”

She grasped my head in her hands.

“I _have_ to.”

I hugged her before she left.

\-------------

I had seen Kidman before, briefly. She had video called my sister before, but I hadn't expected her to be this tall. I took in her solemn expression as soon as I saw her, and sighed heavily. Megan looked confused as I invited her into the living room, ushering the twins back up the stairs.

“It’s Es, isn't it?”

She nodded, fishing around in her pocket.

“She...said she wanted you to have these.”

I felt the tears well up at the sight of her dog tags. She had polished them every week she was a home, done it so routinely I could tell the time by how far in she was.

Kidman handed them to me and I clutched them to my chest, trembling. Megan rubbed my arm and I let the tears fall silently, not willing to make a scene. I always knew this would happen, but after so many years...I stopped expecting it.

“Torres...no, Esmeralda died bravely. She went out fighting some truly terrifying people. And because of her, we did it. We ended it.”

I nodded.

“There's also...this.”

Kidman extended an envelope, but I didn't trust my hands. I looked over at Megan and she took it, opening it slowly after glancing at me. It was papers, a lot of them, and they looked official. Probably bills, a will, or something else like that.

“She left you everything. I'm not entirely sure how much...is there, but it's sizeable.”

I nodded again.

“Thank you, Kidman. I...think I have to go.”

I turned and headed up to my room, wiping my eyes so that the kids wouldn't see. I clenched the tags in one hand and laid down on the bed, stilling. I took off my shoes and listened as there were words exchanged, and then the door opened and closed. Megan was in the doorway in a little bit later, waiting. I met her eyes and extended an arm, still teary.

She tried using words to comfort me, but I just shook my head. Sex wouldn't help in this state, so I just asked if she would cuddle me. Make me feel warm. Megan agreed and I gave her my phone to text my boss, telling them that I wouldn't be at work tomorrow, or likely the next day.

For some reason, this made me laugh.

“Couldn't even die on a weekend or a Friday...knew she always wanted to gloat to me about her job, say it was better than mine.”

I got a soft sigh but not real response.

“She never hogged the covers, that wasn't an issue. We always got too hot instead of too cold in my family. And the only thing Es could ever cook was soup and macaroni, maybe waffles. Wow, I'm never going to be able to eat macaroni again.”

Megan just listened to me ramble on for an hour, sometimes passive-aggressive but mostly just sad. I ran out of steam and fell asleep, waking up to a text message. Kidman. She was telling me that she uncovered one of Esmeralda's more secretive accounts, and would be wiring it to a new fund that only I could access, but wasn't the owner of. Didn't want to be too suspicious with my dead sister’s dirty job money.

\-----------

The funeral was small. Es never liked formality.

We had a small burying ceremony, just me, Megan, and surprisingly, Kidman. She said a few words and I hit the winch, lowering the casket down.

“Once again, I'm sorry,” Kidman said. “She was a good soldier, and a fair friend. I'll miss her.”

I nodded and we shook hands. Megan gently pulled me towards the car and I saw Kidman stare down at the headstone, then walk towards a bike. She took off as I was buckling my seatbelt.

I never saw her again.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah...anyways back to my essay that's half my English exam.


End file.
